


Emotionally Drained

by mggislife2789



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Cheating, Other, Reader-Insert
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-20
Updated: 2017-09-20
Packaged: 2019-01-01 00:58:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12145089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mggislife2789/pseuds/mggislife2789
Summary: Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters or their original stories. This is only for fun. It's where my brain goes after the credits roll. No copyright intended. Better safe than sorry. ;)





	Emotionally Drained

Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. 

Who the fuck was banging on your door at…you looked at the time on your phone…11:23 PM on a Friday night?

As you angrily approached the door, wishing to be left alone after a killer week at work (literally killer, two killers had been caught this week), you heard her. “Alex?”

“Yea, it’s me. I’m sorry it’s so late. Please open up.” Alex was never out and about this late at night. She was a homebody who would much rather be at home doing a crossword puzzle with a cup of tea. Something wasn’t right. 

You swung open the door to see her eyes awash with tears. The rims of her eyes were red, her eyelids puffy and her face drawn in a sadness you hadn’t really ever seen in her. “What’s wrong?” James was supposed to be coming home either today or tomorrow. She was always so happy when he was on his way back. “Did something happen with James?”

Her lip started to quiver and you knew it couldn’t be good; either something was physically wrong with James, he was dead, or he’d cheated. Honestly, you didn’t know which one was worse. 

Without a word, she stepped into your apartment and sat down at the kitchen table where she always did whenever she visited. Reaching up into the cabinet, you grabbed your best teapot and started it up, while simultaneously grabbing a pint of ice cream from the refrigerator and two spoons from the drawer at your waist. “What happened?”

Since you started at the BAU, you joked that you’d been plucked from the womb to work there; you’d been there forever and your best friends had been made because of this job. When Alex came in it was no exception. She and Spencer were your closest friends, and despite the age gap between you two, you probably had more in common than anyone else save for Spencer. Seeing her so heartbroken was killing you, but you didn’t press anything. Instead you waited for her to come to you. “James cheated on me.”

Your eyes closed of their own accord, a exasperated puff of air escaping from your nose. “How did you find out? From someone else, or did he tell you?”

Her voice broke as she spoke. “He told me. It wasn’t just a one time thing either; he felt guilty, broke it off, told me and is now begging for my forgiveness and I don’t know what to do. I just…I never thought he would do this to me.”

Alex hadn’t opened up to a lot of people, but she’d told you about Ethan and how she and James and stayed together through it all. Just a few weeks after she started, she’d mentioned to you the nature of her relationship with James; they were married, but both had jobs they loved, so they would do their things separately and then when they were home at the same time, it was like they were dating again. It worked for them - at least it had. “I can’t tell you what to do, but I can tell you what I might do.”

“Can you?” Her eyes pleaded with you to tell her what she wanted to hear, but you honestly weren’t sure she’d like what you had to say. 

Once you finished your ice cream, you motioned toward the couch and grabbed her hand. “It depends on whether you feel you’re like me. James may be contrite. He might believe the whole thing was a big mistake, and he may truly love you and want to make this work.” Hesitation tinged your next few words for fear of how she’d react. “But if it were me, I couldn’t trust him again, and that alone would be enough for me not to go back. In time, I might be able to forgive him, but I could never forget, and I couldn’t go back without forgetting.”

Clearly, it wasn’t what she’d wanted to hear, but she nodded her head in understanding. “It’s both exactly what I wanted to hear and yet nothing that I wanted to hear. If that makes sense.”

Next to you on the couch was a tissue box you’d brought over, so you grabbed one and dried the tears on her cheeks before handing her a fresh one. “It does. Maybe because it’s the right thing to hear, but your heart wants this to vanish so you can go back to normal.”

“Yea,” she said, giving you a small smile. Every muscle in her face tightened up. You could tell she was going to explode into tears and was trying with every fiber of her being to fight it. “Every time I see him now, I see him rolling around with someone whose face is all blurred. We’ve been together forever. How could he do this? I mean…” A choking sob lodged in her throat as she tried to speak more, but it got in the way and she broke down crying. You gathered her head into your lap and played with her hair. That always seemed to help your other friends.

For what seemed like an hour, Alex wept in varying degrees of intensity; once you thought it was over, it would wind back up again, and each time it hurt your soul. Spencer had already been through so much this year, and then this had to happen on top of that; it wasn’t fair. You kind of wanted to punch James in the throat. “You wanna stay here tonight? We can watch Arrival? I know you’ve been wanting to see it. We can also get a pizza delivered?”

“At midnight?”

“Yea, there’s a place down the block that stays open on the weekends. Fuck it. I think this deserves late night pizza.”

She pushed up from her place in your lap and wiped her tears with the backs of her sleeves.”Yea, I definitely think it does. Do you have some pajamas I can borrow? The idea of going back there right now-”

“Oh hell no,” you exclaimed, picking up the phone and dialing while simultaneously walking to your room and opening up some drawers. “You are not going back there tonight. Hello?” The tired teenager on the other end of the line took your order while you rummaged around for something comfortable for Alex to sleep in. “About 30 minutes? Cool. Thanks.” You hung up the phone and pulled out a Queen t-shirt and a pair of baggy flannel pajama pants. “The epitome of comfort, my dear.”

“Thank you,” she gave you a strained smile before heading to the bathroom to change. She took a little longer than you thought, probably needing a moment alone to truly work through everything after talking it out with a friend. 

About 10 minutes later, she came out looking much more comfortable, her makeup wiped off and her muscles semi relaxed. You brought her a cup of tea and motioned for her to sit on the floor on a pillow you’d provided. “Here. Sit. I already rented Arrival off DirecTV. The tea is fresh. The pizza is on its way, and I am going to give you a neck and shoulder massage while we wait.”

“Y/N, you don’t have to do this,” she chuckled sleepily, the smile you were used to beginning to emerge again. 

This was a personal strength of yours. Being a sounding board seemed to be something you were good at. “I know. But I want to. Sit your butt down.”

With a laugh, she crossed her legs on the floor and leaned back as you began to knead her neck and shoulders, releasing all the tension of the past 24 hours or so. How her head hadn’t popped off was a miracle really.

Before you knew it, the pizza had arrived, so you both sleepily ate two slices of pizza, getting weighed down by greasy goodness before resuming your massage. Although the movie was on, you could tell neither of you were really paying attention. Maybe you could watch it tomorrow. “How does your neck feel?”

“My neck feels great,” she replied. She almost sounded like she was drugged. “My head and my heart not so much, but the neck and shoulders feel great.”

Shrugging, you replied that you expected as much. “True. We’re both tired. You wanna sleep it off? We can go to breakfast in the morning and then you can figure out what you’re going to do.”

“That sounds good.” Reaching down, you grabbed her hands and helped her up off the ground. She was about to lie down on the couch.

“Babe, I have a queen-size bed that’s super comfortable. Let’s go.” She trailed behind you, practically drunk with sleep and weighed down by a sadness she couldn’t even begin to describe; as a linguist that pissed her off. “Lie down.” You pulled back the comforter and motioned for her to get in, kissing her forehead before walking around to your side of the bed and sliding in too. “Now get some rest. You can figure out the rest in the morning.”

But she hadn’t had the time to respond. Her light snoring told you she was already asleep, probably so drained both physically and emotionally that she fell into a deep sleep before you even touched the sheets yourself. This wasn’t going to be easy for her - not when they’d been together for so long, but you had a feeling her choice had already been made. Once that kind of trust was broken, it was too difficult to truly get it back. Whatever happened, you’d be there; she deserved to have someone by her side.


End file.
